Method of regulating the humidity of air in chambers.



P. MANDEVILLE.

METHOD OF REGULATING THE HUMIDITY OF AIR IN CHAMBERS.

APPLICATION FILED N0v.30, 19:1.

1 ,27 6 ,24 1 i Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

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\ ir-". I s I Inferno r 41 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL MANDEVILLE, DIE-CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO'THE PAUL MANDEVILLE 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF REGULATING THE HUMIDITY OF AIR IN CHAMBERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

Application filed November 30, 1917. Serial No. 204,715.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, PAUL MANDEVIILE, a citizen of the United States, and a residentof Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Method of Regulating the Humidity of Air in Chambers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

My invention has to do with regulating the humidity of the air in a chamber or room used for the temporary or permanent storage of articles, such as food products, and while it is applicable to rooms maintained at a warm temperature,'its greatest utility is realized in connection with cooling chambers, such as are employed in connection with meat packing establishments, or for egg storage, etc.

Various forms of apparatus have heretofore been employed for securing the desired low temperature in such cooling rooms, one well known apparatus being a coil or a system of pipes through which cold brine is caused to circulate. Where such apparatus is used, it is difiicult to regulate the humidity of the air in the cooling chamber because the exposed surface of the pipes containing the cooling medium at once begins to accumulate a coating of frost formed by the congealing of moisture deposited from the air, and after such frost coating has accumulated to a certain extent, it remains substantially uniform in thickness and has no material effect so far as'varying the humidity of the room is concerned. As the articles stored in the cooling room usually give up considerable moisture, the result is that the humidity of the room is increased to such an extent that it is frequently necessary to reduce it by other means, such as the use of hygroscopic chemicals, as no practical way has thus far been developed, so far as I am aware, of regulating the humidity by means of the cooling apparatus. Obviously, it would be impracticable to reduce the humidity of the atmosphere by scraping oif'more or less of the frost accumulated on the pipes to promote condensation of the moisture, as the result would be uncertain, and moreover such method would be objectionable because it would vary the temperature of the room; on the other hand, covering the pipes to a greater or less extent by a non-conducting medium to reduce condensation and increase the humidity of the room wouldbe physically diflicult of accomplishment, and would be objectionable because it would reduce the efliciency of the apparatus as a cooling medium Another form of apparatus which has been-extensively used for cooling purposes consists of suitable means for exposing cold brine or other cooling liquid directly to the atmosphere of the room to be cooled. The use of such apparatus has a marked and objectionable drying effect on the atmosphere in'the room, since the brine must necessarily be caused to flow through the room to be cooled, and the moisture condensed from the atmosphere is deposited on the liquid and is carried ofi' with it, so that the cooling medium constantly acts as a drying medium, and prior to my present invention there was no known way of modifying or regulating such drying action.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a new and improved method by which the humidity of the air in a cooling room may be accurately and easily re lated by modifying or controlling the humi i fying effect of the cooling medium upon the atmosphere of the room, so as to make unnecessary the use of extraneous or separate means for that purpose, and this object I accomplish by employing a cooling liquid having its surface exposed to the atmosphere, and varyin the areaof the exposed surface of the liquld by means of a suitable heat conducting element resting on such surface and coyering it to a greater or less extent. Preferably the heat conducting ele 'ment, which may be a piece of sheet metal of such character as not to be corroded by the brine or other liquid used, is floated on the surface of the liquid, and to enable it to float is best made in the form of a shallow pan or tray. It will be apparent that such a pan will at once be cooled to approximately the temperature of the cooling liquid, so that the cooling action of the latter will not be materially affected, and that there will be a certain deposit of moisture upon the pan which will become congealed and will remain in the cooling room. If any portion of the surface of the liquid remains uncovered, the moisture deposited on it will be carried off. By varying the size of the in a room warmed by means of a warm.

liquid having its surface exposed to the atmosphere, since by covering a greater or less area of such surface in the manner described, the amount of evaporation which takes place may be accurately controlled without materially affecting the efficiency of the warm liquid as a heating medium.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a simple form of cooling apparatus by which my improved method may be em-.

ployed'for regulating the humidity of a cooling chamber, but the apparatus shown is only one of various forms which may be used for the purpose.

Referring to the drawing, in which the figure is a perspective view showing the several trays in longitudinal vertical section,

1 indicates a suitable chamber or room in which the articles to be cooled are placed.

2 indicates vertical standards and 3 horizontal cross-bars which together make up a rack or frame adapted to receive and support a number of trays 4, which as shown, are rectangular in form. One of the end walls of each tray is made lower than the opposite end wall and the side walls, as shown at 5, so that said trays are adapted to hold liquid up to the level of the end wall 5, which forms a dam over which the liquid may overflow frbm any tray into the tray below it. As clearly shown in the drawings, the several trays are arranged one above another in staggered relationto each other'with the lower end walls alternately at opposite ends of the rack, so that the liquid in the uppermost tray flows along such tray to the low end wall 5 thereof, where it overflows into the next tray below it and then passes back in said tray to the opposite end of the rack where it overflows into the next lower tray, thus following a zig zag course until it finally overflows from the lowermost tray into a suitable outlet, such as a trough 6 connected to a discharge pipe 7. In the illustration I have shown the cooling liquid as being introduced through a pipe 8 which discharges into the uppermost tray 4, but any other suitable arrangement may be employed. 9 indicates a series of floating trays, which may be of any suitable dimensions, and are adapted to float on the surface of the -cooling liquid in the several trays 4. a The floating trays 9 are made of heat conducting material for the purpose already described. 'l011 indicate stop bars which extend across the trays 4 above the level of the liquid therein'to hold the floating trays 9 in place. If desired sheets may be suspended from the overflow ends of the trays 4 to lead the brine down to the next tray, as indicated in dotted lines.

It will be evident that with an apparatus such as that illustrated, the exposed area of the cooling liquid may be varied greatly, since the liquid in all of the trays 4 may be entirely exposed, or may be almost entirely covered by the floating trays, and between these limits any desired extent of surface may be exposed by varyingthe size and number of the several floating trays. The moisture condensed from the atmosphere is precipitated either on the exposed surface of the cooling liquid, where such surface is exposed, or in the floating trays, the latter moisture, which ordinarily becomes congealed, being retained in the room, while that deposited on the cooling liquid is carried out with it, as has been described. Consequently by varying the size or number of the trays, the proportionate part of the condensed moisture which is removed from the room may be regulated as desired.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method of regulating the humidity of the air in a chamber containing a temperature-varying liquid having its surface exposed to the atmosphere, which consists in varying the area of such surface exposed to the atmosphere.

2. The method of regulating the humidity of the air in a chamber containing a temperature-varying liquid having its surface exposed to the atmosphere, which consists in covering more or less of such surface exposed to the atmosphere by a heat conducting member resting thereon;

3. The method of regulating the humidity of the air in a chamber which consists in flowing a temperature-varying liquid through such chamber with its surface exposed to the atmosphere and varying thev area of such liquid exposed to the atmosphere.

4. The method of regulating the humidity of the air in a chamber which consists in flowing a temperature-varying liquid through such chamber with its surface exposed to the atmosphere and varying the area of such liquid exposed to the atmosphere by covering more or less of such area with a heat conducting member placed in contact therewith.

5. The method of regulating the humidity of the air in a chamber containing a cooling liquid having its surface exposed to the atmosphere, which consists in covering more 5 or less of such exposed-surface by a metal tray resting thereon.

6. The method of regulating the humidity of the air in a cooling chamber, which consists in flowing an exposed cooling liquid through such chamber and varying the area 10 of such cooling liquid exposed to the at mosphere by coverin more or less of such area with a heat con ucting member placed in contact therewith;

PAUL MANDEVILLE. 

